Method and tool for cleaning spinnerets



Patented Apr. 1, 1930 UNITED ,STATES' PATE NT OFFICE OIIOI OHLSON, OF WEST NEWTON, MASSACHUSETTS IETHOD TOOL FOR CLEANING SPINNERETS Application filed .Iune 17, 1925. Serial No. 37,761.

This invention is concerned with. a paratus or means for artificially forming laments for textile and other purposes, such as are used in the artificial silk industry, for instance. -The means used for making such filaments include devices called spinnerets having'minute orifices through which liquid is forced and from which it emerges in fine streams.v Such streams coming into contact with a surrounding cooling or coagulating medium are hardened into hair-like filaments. One such device for making such filaments is disclosed in my prior Patent No. 1,337,258,

dated April 20, 1920. It comprises a cup adapted to hold the fluid material from which the filaments are formed, and in the bottom of the cup are holes in which are set thin with difliculty owing to difliculty in finding the hole in the orifice plate and centering the cleaning tool. so that it would pass through the hole without hearing unevenly at one side and cutting or wearing away the boundary of the hole, or being itself broken or deformed.

My invention comprises a tool adapted to center the cleaning implement with the hole,

and to be manipulated to that end, and the cleaning implement then passed through the hole, in what amounts practically to a single motion. The invention furtherembraces the method performed in cleaning spinnerets with the aid of such'tool. The'nature of the invention and the particular characteristics of construction, operation and manipulation in which it consists can best be set forth in connection with .a detailed descriptionof a specific embodiment or example thereof. Such a detailed description is hereinafter given in connection with drawings, as follows:

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a sideelevation of a complete tool embodying'my invention and having a single cleaning instrument, the same view showing also, in section, a filament forming device, corresponding to my prior patent aforesaid, in position to be cleaned;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view on a much enlarged scale of the operating part of the cleaning tool in coaction with a spinneret;

Fig. 3 is a view generally similar to Fig. 1 showing amodification of the invention which comprises the provision of a number of cleaning implements arranged and adapted to pass through all, or a number, of the spinneret orifices at once.

Like reference characters designate the same parts Wherever they occur in all the figures.

I will first briefly call attention to the characteristic features of the spinner, or filament forming device. Such device comprises a cup 5 adapted to hold the liquid of which the filaments are to be made. In the bottomwall 6 of this cup are holes 7 in which are set the orifice plates 8, the latter being thin disks or bushings, each having a minute short passage- Way 9 in its center and an enlarged recess 10 in its upper side sloping inward toward the passage 9. The preferred 'construction of such plate is shown clearly on an enlarged scale in Figure 2. It is preferably made of a platinum gold'alloy,such alloy being inert to the action of the fluids to which itis exposed. and also sufii'ciently tough and hard for the purpose. Other materials having these qualities in sufiicient measure may be used; however. The plates may be secured with sufiicient firmness in their holes by fric-' tion, but they also may be otherwise secured.

A feature to be noted in this connection is that the plate is so placed that its upper face is below the upper end of the hole 7 in the bottomof the cup. Thus the upper end of such hole forms an open cavity in the bot tom of the cup leadingto the spinneret orifice. This cavity is an important factor in connection with the operation of the cleaning tool, as will presently appear.

The cleaning tool as a whole comprises a base 11 adapted to rest on a table or bench or any other suitable support and having a table 12 to hold the spinneret. At one side of the table 12 is a gooseneck 43 rising from the base and including an overhanging arm 14 from which rises a guiding sleeve 14.

The base, gooseneck and sleeve may bemade as one integral structure; a casting or a forg-' ing for instance. 1 a

There is a passageway in the sleeve 14' and through the arm 14, in line with which is an opening in the table 12 and base. 11. A

tubular plunger 15 is mounted in the sleeve 13, as-in a guide, and fits closely thereinbut with sufiicient freedom for easy endwise movement. It is provided at its upper end with ahead 16 having a flange 1 which flange forms an abutment for a spring 18 sur rounding the plunger and-resting on the upperend ofthe guide sleeve 13, thus normally holding the plunger in raised position and withdrawn from the table. I

As shown in large detail in Figure 2, there is within the tubular plunger 15, an inner lunger rod 19 which carries, protruding rom its lower end, the cleaning implement 20. t The latter is a rod or wire, preferably 'made of steel, hardened and tempered, and of P a diameter tofit closely but without binding, in the inneret orifice 9. The diameter of this imp ement is of the order of magnitude from two one-thousandths to four one-thousandths of an inch, or thereabout, depending on the size of the filament which the spinneret is designed to produce; thatis about the diameter of a human hair.

The means for mounting, centering, guiding and protecting an implement of such delicacy constitutes one of the features of the invention. It is encased throughout the eater part of its length in a. sheath 21 WlllCh fits closely about the implement and is tapered at one end to fit a tapered socket 22 in the end of the plun er 19. The sheath 21 is large enough to" be sti and rugged, and it is also elastically compressible. These qualities enable it to be forced into thetapered socket until it is not only firmly secured by friction in the socket,

but is pressed u on and grips the cleaning implement. As t e passage in the sheath for .the cleaning tool is accurately'located in its central line, and the tapered end of the sheath is accurately centered with respect to the axis of the plunger, the sheath forms a very simple means for accurately centering and securely fastening the cleaning implement to the plunger.

A guide for the sheath is provided in the -form-of a tube or bushing 23 set into the lower end of the tubular plunger 15 and having a bore which forms a closely fittin guideway for the sheath. In the outer en of this between an abutment 26 in the bore of the tubular plunger 15, and a collar 27 on the inner plunger, and normally raises such lunger until the collar abuts against a shoul er 28 in the cap 16. When the inner plunger is thus raised the cleaning tool is withdrawn until its end is substantially fiu'sh with the bushing 24. The upper end of the inner plunger projects above the cap 16 and carries a head 29 adapted to receive the pressure of the operators finger. The spring 25 is preferably stifi'er than the spring 18, whereby spring 25 is efiective as a means for depressing the tubular plunger through pressureexerted by the operator on the head 29.

The lower extremity of the guide tube 23 is reduced in diameter to form an extension 30,'concentric with the cleaning implement 20, and the outer diameter of which is adapted to fit closely in the hole 7 containing the late and the end of which is beveled so that it 1will readily find an entrance into such In the use of this toolto clean spinneret orifices, the spinneret is placed on the table 12, restin loosely thereon, and is shifted over the ta le by the operator until one of the holes in its bottom is approximately in line with the plunger. The operator, b pressing downward on the plunger hea 29, de-

in the spinner cup. Thereby the orifice in the spinneret is allned with the cleaning implement. Additional pressure exerted on the lead 29 then protrudes the cleaning implement through the spinneret orifice, thus accomplishing the end for which the tool is designed. Of course, if desired, the first action of depressing the outer plunger to find the hole in the cup bottom may be performed by pressure applied to the cap 16 beside the inner plunger; but with the construction here disclosed it is possible tocenter and clear the spinneret orifice with a single motion of the finger applied to the plunger head 29.

It will be noted that the tool embodying this invention is simple, and yet guides and alines the cleaning implement accurately, and protects it perfectly. -The guiding members of the plunger, comprised by the tube 15, cap 16, and sleeve 23 are sufiiciently rugged for the purposes in view, and are firmly mounted and accuratelg iguided in the long sleeve part of the base. en the sheath 21 of the cleanall at one time.

ing tool has a long bearing in the sleeve 23. wherein it is. protected and accurately guided, and finally the protruding end of the hairlike cleaning member itself is accurately guided and protected by the terminal bushing 24. An equally important protection is given by means of the sheath to the cleaning member when the latter is mounted in the plunger, for the implement itself may be laced in the sheath without exertion or orce, while the sheath is rigid enough to sustain without injury the force needed to set it firmly in the tapered socket in the plunger.

The same invention may be embodied in a tool adapted for cleaning all the orifices of a filament forming device, or several orifices, at the same time, instead of one at a time. Figure 8 shows a multiple tool for that purpose. In this case the guide 14) is relatively larger than the guide 13 first shown and contains a main plunger 15*, substantially like the plunger 15 except thatit contains and guides a number of inner plungers 19 corresponding in number, spacing, and arrangement, to the orifices which are to be cleaned Springs serve the same purpose as the spring 25. A single knob or head 29 is engaged with all of the inner plungers 19 and is operable to move them in unison. In other respects including the details of the individual plungers, cleaning implements and their guiding means, the multiple implement tool is the same as the single implement tool already described in detail.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is: r

1. The method of cleaning the spinning orifice in a device for forming filaments, which consists in first alining a guide with the spinning orifice, and then passing a cleaning rod in conducted engagement with said guide through thealined orifice.

2. The combination with a filament forming device having a wall with a recess, and an orifice plate contained in said recess, of a guide complemental to said recess entering therein, said guide having an internal guideway in line with the orifice in said plate, and a rod movable through said guideway and said orifice.

3. In combination with a spinneret having a hole and an orifice plate located in said hole below the entrance thereto, of a guide complemental in form and dimensions to said entrance, adapted to enter therein and establish a predetermined relationship therewith, said guide having a guideway which is then alined with the spinneret orifice, and a cleaning implement slidingly fitted in said guide- Way and adapted to extend therefrom through jsaid'orifice.

4. A'tool for cleaning spinnerets comprising a hairlike cleaning rod, a sheath for said rod, a plunger having a tapered socketreceiving one end of said sheath, and in-which said end is received and compressed upon the cleaning rod, and a guide for the end of said rod which protrudes from the sheath.

5. In a tool of the character described, a cleaning implement comprising a rod having a diameter approximating the diameter of a hair, a holder for said cleaning implement, and a sheath surrounding said implement and extending into said holder, that part of the sheath which extends into the holder being vision for moving toward and away from said support, said plunger having an interior passageway, and a cleaning rod movable in said passageway and arranged to be protruded from said centering portion.

8. A spinneret cleaning tool comprising a base, having a work support, a plunger having a centering projection-mounted with provision'for moving toward and away from said support, said plunger having an interior passageway, a tool holder contained within said plunger and rising above the same, and a spring interposed between a part of said tool holder and said plunger arranged and adapted to transmit movement from the former to the latter.

9. In a tool of the character set forth a base structure, a tubular plunger movablein said base structure, an inner plunger movable in said tubular plunger, a combined centering member and implement guide mounted on one end of said tubular plunger and having an interior guideway,'a sheath contained in said guideway and secured to the inner lunger, and a cleaning implement contained in said sheath and protruding therefrom, the outer end part of said guideway being of dimensions to fit the protruding portion of said implement.

In testimony whereof I have afiixed my signature. H

OHLSON. 

